


Like Gravity

by awitchbravestheverge



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), S.W.A.T. (TV 2017)
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, M/M, Meet-Cute, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25828723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awitchbravestheverge/pseuds/awitchbravestheverge
Summary: "They meet two months into junior year of highschool. It's Eric's twelfth school in ten years, courtesy of being a military brat, and he's already decided it will be his last."The story of two budding conspiracy theorists and the relationship they build between them. Inevitable, like gravity.
Relationships: Eric/Ira
Kudos: 6





	Like Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> I may or may not continue this but I definitely have thoughts about these characters.

Eric smiles a lot, always has, and everyone thinks he's the friendly one. His smiles are bright and wide, almost no one ever notices how fake they are. It's a defense. He has a thousand different smiles tucked away. Ones that come out when he's nervous, confidence pasted on to hide a weakness. Ones that show cautious amusement, or annoyance, startled surprise. The one he wears most is the one that hides hurt or anger, a mile wide lie full of teeth and false cheer. A mechanism to distract and dismay. A shark's smile, Ira told him once, too solemn eyes brimming with awe. It's a compliment and Eric takes it that way.

They meet two months into junior year of highschool. It's Eric's twelfth school in ten years, courtesy of being a military brat, and he's already decided it will be his last. He'll be 18 in just under a year, his father's on 18 month assignment at least. He's tired of never settling anywhere long enough to have any kind of normal existence. LA is as good a place as any to set down roots, better even with his budding fascination with filming things. He's not sure where he wants to take that, but the city offers a wide range of options.

"This seat taken?" It's not really a question by the tone. Eric looks up, startled smile already forming. And up, and up some more. The 6ft infinity scarecrow interrupting his brooding taps rapidly on the back of the only other chair at the dingy corner table.

Eric raises an eyebrow. "What's it to ya?" He asks, even as he's gesturing the other boy into the seat.

Scarecrow shrugs and sits. "Saw you hiding over here. You're new." His mouth quirks a little, settles back into a passive line, but his eyes are half moon pools of amusement. "Thought I'd come introduce myself before the locals get a chance to scare you into avoiding me. Names Ira." He reaches a mile long limb across his own brown bag lunch and Eric's tray to offer a hand. 

Eric shakes it, smile brittle around the edges. "I wasn't hiding." 

"Could've fooled me." Ira's gaze flicked deliberately from the crowded cafeteria back to the tiny empty table tucked in by the stage. When he brings his look back to Eric, there's a question burning bright in it. It makes him feel far too seen.

His smile takes a harder edge "Should I be? Scared I mean."

Ira huffs a small laugh and his eyes get comically wide. "Oh absolutely. I'm a bona fide crazy person, didn't anyone tell you? L.A.'s biggest nut job." He drops his voice to a stage whisper, leans in closer. "Probably a murderer too." He says it like it's an inside joke. Only another desperately lonely person would be able to read the hesitation under the warmth of his voice. His eyes give him away though. All of his emotions live there, far too easy to read.

For the first time in a long time, Eric realizes uncomfortably, he has all the power here. This is an offer of camaraderie and he could snuff it out if he's not careful. He leans back in his chair, smile anxious, expression considering. "You don't look all that threatening. I bet I could take you."  
That earns him a small smirk and the half moon eyes again. "The most deadly ones never do."

"So what does a hardened criminal like yourself want with a nobody like me?" He lets his smile drop finally, soften into something more honest.

"Oh and he's smarter than he looks." Ira patters out to an invisible audience. "Every good villain needs a minion, you're about the right size."

"Oh them's fightin' words asshole." He taps the centre of his chest. "Eric, by the way. You should know the name of the mortal enemy you just won."

Ira laughs a little like it's been punched out of him. "Fantastic. I always wanted a nemesis of my very own." He folds in on himself and dissolves into giggles.

It pulls a very new kind of smile out of Eric, something raw, and helpless. He can feel it splitting him open without his permission as he joins in on the giggling. "What the hell are you laughing at?" He chokes out between breaths, powerless to stop. It's not even that funny.

Ira wipes at his eyes and shakes his head, giggles still slipping out as they catch their breath. "Everything, man, I don't even know." His eyes latch onto Eric's across the table, and they shine. 

_Oh no._ Eric thinks vaguely as he drowns in the warmth he finds there. _Oh I'm in trouble._


End file.
